British women are leading the way when it comes to adopting new technology to do their shopping. While men stay glued to their desktops, women are embracing their smartphones and tablets at a faster rate than men to shop online.
That’s according to the latest data from Worldpay, which reveals the impact online retail has had on consumer shopping habits.
The report found that in the UK 78% of men used a desktop/laptop computer, compared to 70% of women and that 11% of ladies used a mobile phone, compared to 8% of the chaps. 19% of girls used a tablet, while just 13% of the boys did.
Commenting on the findings, Maria Prados, VP Global Retail at Worldpay says: “Despite the stereotype that men are faster to adopt new technologies, our findings reveal that it is women who are responsible for driving the early success of the mobile eCommerce boom. Fashion retailers in particular have been quick to capitalise on female mobile shoppers, with over 60% of mobile traffic coming from the fashion industry alone.
There are many reasons that mobile commerce suits the needs of the female shopper. In general women tend to spend more time browsing for clothes than men and are quicker to seek out trends on social media and jump on them. However, there are early signs that men are starting to emulate that behaviour and some savvy retailers are taking advantage of this such as Net a porter, which has launched a men only site.
More broadly, traffic via mobile devices is increasing exponentially and recent announcements from Android and Apple to integrate their respective payment solutions into mobile browsers will ensure mobile commerce grows and grows. Retailers now need to ensure shopping journeys are thought through “mobile-first” instead of adapting the desktop experience, to ensure they convert as much of that traffic into sales.”
